Hey guys, I need some expertise. I have an old status racing seat (made from fiberglass-FRP) I use as my office chair, it has quite a few dings, scratches, and the glossy black paint is flaking off in some areas. I'd really like to repaint it another color, but I don't know how to go about it exactly and can't afford to get it done professionally. I'd like to take on the job myself, but could use some general direction. I have access to a spray booth, but unfortunately, no gun. My questions: how should I sand it (should i sand it, and if yes, what grit?), how should I apply primer, paint, etc. I'd like to paint it a matte black, instead of gloss black. I'm open to all opinions and suggestions. I know very little about painting, consider me a noob. Thanks guys!

Cloud

well i would take the seat apart if thats possible .
so you only have the fiberglass piece (parts need painting)

then take fine sandpaper and just sand it as smooth as you can get it .
so dont overdo the sanding , just go over it well but dont sand into the old paint to much
make the surface evenly smooth so make long strokes

if you see some scratches witch are deep, then try some filler and after drying sand the area smooth again
sometimes a dust of black and some sanding reveils areas that are ....
but on your chair that a bit overkill , just sanding and filling any real deep sratches will be enough

take note that with filler its best to use a little bit and maybe do it twice , because to much filler has to be sanded away again ....

you could use a regulair primer or to go really smooth on the surface a filler primer
thats kinda filler and primer in one , so it gets rid of all those small uneven things

that needs to be sanded smooth with superfine paper and then you can paint

i would advice to use the same brand filler / paint if that is possible
thats always best

and the best advice i can give is get spraycans and filler stuff ment for the automotive industry
thats really durable and sprays way nicer then diy market cans


some aditional tips :
before sanding = degreasing (so even before the first sand)
after every sand = degrease
try to get as little fingerprints on it when wanting to paint (when degreased)

best is to lay the surface flat

and first start with a fine dust and don not try to spry it in one go
nice long strokes witch overlap eitch other
when your covered everything you start again where you started spraying

dont go to close to the surface with the can , keep a bit of distance

never stay spraying on one area , keep moving from one side to the other overlapping

btw i read you post again and saw the chair is flaking ...

hmm then degrease it

get various grit papers , i would say from middle > fine > superfine

and just sand untill its smooth then go about like my previous post

its just a case of trying

if its really horrible you could even sand it all off with a electric sander and start from scratch
but i would not go there since you dont know how the polyester is under the paint , if thats really not smooth then you would need to fill it out and thats more of a skil thing

An airbrush is nice, but for what you're doing it shouldn't really be a necessity; a rattle can will work just fine with a little prep work to the surface and the spray can.

When it comes to preparing the rattle can, you want to thoroughly shake the can to make sure the solvents and pigments in the can are completely mixed, normally shaking for 1-2 minutes should be sufficient. Another tip, which I do religiously now, is warm the spray can. Do this by simply placing the can in some warm water (not too hot, remember you have to be able to handle with the can your hand to spray it), by heating the can it helps the paint flow better when spraying since the warm paint has an increased viscosity, I personally believe it also helps maintain a good constant pressure out of the can too. Remember another thing, by heating the can, the solvents will evaporate faster, you will understand why I am mentioning this next.

When the nozzle on the rattle can is depressed, the paint is atomized; this means there are tiny droplets being shot through the air towards the object being painted. Upon landing on the target they spread out and join together to form a hopefully smooth surface. The smaller the droplets the thinner and more even the coat of paint. At the same time the droplets are spreading out, the solvent are evaporating, which stops the paint flowing as it dries, if the solvent evaporates too soon, it doesn't have time to level properly and you will end up with orange peel effect, at worst it can evaporate before the paint reaches the surface and you up with a surface that looks like flat paint (but you're using flat so it wouldn't be a disaster).

One other thing to check on, there used to be primers made specifically for priming fiberglass surfaces. Any automotive paint store (I like PPG) should have the primer. You may not need it by now, but the fiberglass resin can seep chemicals that can cause paint to peel over time...I imagine they are out by now, and may be what caused the paint to flake in the first place.

Gott add one thing to the previous posts: IF you mess up a bit of the paint, if the paint has started running, you scratched the surface of the paint etc. Don't worry. Let it dry COMPLETELY (24+ hours), it gors faster if you bake the paint with high temperatures. (avoid heatguns etc though) Then just sand the part of the paint that's bad with a medium sandpaper, then go over the entire thing lightly with a superfine sandpaper and then start laying thin layers ontop of everything again. And remember to degrease everything and all that stuff Rich mentioned.

Thanks for the tips! What sort of grit sandpapers should I use?